Milfred
One proposed meaning: An English name derived from the Old English male name Milfrid meaning "gentle counselor".
Name Census estimates that about 85 living Americans carry the first name Milfred. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Milfred today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milfred births was 1923 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milfred. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Milfred is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Milfreds were born before 1955.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Milfred. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
85
~ 1 in 4,032,404 Americans
Peak year
1923
26 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1966 SSA rank
#3,438
Tracked since 1912
Census
Milfred in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 164 people with the first name Milfred, which placed it at #43,191 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#43,191
National first-name rank
People counted
164
164 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milfred
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milfred is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Milfred described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Milfred at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.4% · 99
- Black or African American20.1% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.5% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 5
- Two or more races1.8% · 3
Popularity
Milfred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milfred from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 179 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milfred by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Milfred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Milfred
The name Milfred is of Old English origin, derived from the elements "mil" meaning "gentle" and "frid" meaning "peace." It first emerged in the 8th century AD among the Anglo-Saxon tribes inhabiting what is now England. The name was originally spelled as "Milfrid" or "Milfridus" in its earliest recorded forms.
One of the earliest known references to the name Milfred can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, including "Milfridus" and "Milfrid," suggesting its widespread use among the Anglo-Saxon population at the time.
In the 12th century, the name Milfred gained prominence with the birth of Milfred of York (c. 1109 – 1163), a renowned English historian and scholar. He is best known for his work "Historia Regum Britanniae," which chronicles the lives of British kings from the mythical Brutus to the 7th century.
Another notable figure bearing the name Milfred was Milfred of Malmesbury (c. 1095 – c. 1143), a Benedictine monk and historian who authored the influential work "Gesta Regum Anglorum" (Deeds of the English Kings). His writings provided valuable insights into the lives of English monarchs and the events of his time.
In the 14th century, Milfred of Bury St Edmunds (c. 1310 – 1380) was a respected English scholar and theologian. He served as a chancellor at the University of Cambridge and is credited with contributing to the development of scholastic philosophy and theology during the medieval period.
During the Renaissance, Milfred Holinshed (c. 1525 – c. 1580) was a renowned English chronicler and historian. His seminal work, "Holinshed's Chronicles," was a comprehensive history of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and served as a valuable source for many writers, including William Shakespeare.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Milfred throughout history. While the name has fallen out of common use in modern times, its origins and historical significance remain an integral part of the cultural heritage of England and the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
People
Milfred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milfred as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Milfred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milfred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 85 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milfred going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,032,404 US residents.
Is Milfred a common name?
We classify Milfred as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milfred most popular?
The single biggest year for Milfred was 1923, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milfred is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Milfred in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 164 people with the name Milfred, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,191 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Milfred in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Milfred?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milfred leans strongly male. 133 people counted with this name were male (82.1%), compared with 29 female bearers (17.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Milfred?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milfred is White at 60.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (9.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Milfred most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milfred in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.4% (99 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Milfred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milfred a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milfred in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Milfred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milfred in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Milfred can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Milfred?
Find out how many people have the name Milfred on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.